Tenant dies, but landlord keeps rent

Melbarose Rhea died unexpectedly Nov. 15, apparently of a heart attack. She already had paid rent on her South Side apartment through the end of the month.

But because Rhea, 59, did not give 30 days' notice that she was going to terminate her lease, her landlord took the date of her passing as notice--and charged Rhea's heirs for rent through Dec. 15.

The rental agency, Andrews Management Services, took $317.42 out of her $875 security deposit and gave the remainder of the deposit back to her son.

After asking the landlord to refund the money but getting no results, Rhea's sister, Miriam Graham, wrote What's Your Problem. Graham said she was most upset that the landlord asked Rhea's relatives to clear out the apartment by Nov. 30, but still deducted the prorated amount of $317.42 for December.

The landlord, Elaine Andrews, told the Problem Solver she actually cut Rhea's relatives a break. Andrews said she could have charged them for the entire month of December but didn't because of the circumstances.

Andrews said she will not give Rhea's relatives the $317.42 back. She said she made several improvements to the apartment, in the 4500 block of South Michigan Avenue, after Rhea moved in, such as putting in more kitchen cabinets and re-sanding the floor.

In short, she said, she had done enough.

"I consider myself a fair-minded person," Andrews said. "When you're not fair-minded, it comes back. I believe in the law of karma. ... I think I was more than fair."

Andrews said Rhea signed a one-year lease in October in which Rhea paid $656 a month in rent and the government paid $144 in housing assistance. The landlord said that based on that lease, she could have kept the entire security deposit, which included rent and a key deposit, but she didn't.

She said she asked Rhea's relatives to clean out the apartment as quickly as possible because the rental agency "wanted to recoup our losses."

Graham is unimpressed. She said her sister moved into the three-bedroom apartment because she liked its location and because her grandchildren could stay there in the summer.

Graham said Andrews did little to improve the apartment and didn't respond to most of her sister's requests to fix up the place.

After Rhea died in her sleep, Graham said she and her relatives had to scramble to empty the apartment of Rhea's belongings by Nov. 30.

"It was a rush to get out of there," Graham said, adding they should have been given until Dec. 15. "If we were charged for it, we should have been able to wait," she said.

Graham said her sister wasn't happy with the way Andrews managed the apartment.

"She was a pretty tough landlord, from what my sister was telling me," Graham said.

Andrews disagrees.

"We just bent over backwards for her," she said. Keeping half of the December rent, she said, is fair to both sides.

"If you were in my shoes," Andrews said, "you would concur."

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THE PROBLEM

The family of the late Melbarose Rhea is seeking the security deposit on her apartment. The landlord said she hadn't given 30 days' notice.

THE OUTCOME

A standstill. The landlord, Elaine Andrews, said she has been more than generous and won't give the $317.42 back.

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